THE MANY SHADES OF ENVIRONMENTALISM

As the presidential election draws near, organizers of the national environmental movement are ardently trying to sway public opinion in favor of environmentally-friendly candidates.

And Harvard students are playing a part.

On Saturday, a group including Harvard undergraduates will door-drop voter guides comparing the environmental records of Republican U.S. representative Peter Blute and his challenger in the Massachusetts third congressional district, Democrat Jim McGovern.

Organizers estimate that if they can sway 2,000 votes in this tight race they can deliver the election to McGovern, whom they view as the "greener" candidate.

This activity marks another stage in the increasing presence of the environmental movement on Harvard's campus.

Two weeks ago the undergraduate environmental scene gained a moment of attention when the Massachusetts chapter of the Sierra Club contacted the Environmental Action Committee (EAC) at Harvard to arrange a visit to the Institute of Politics by the club's national president.

Much of the national movement has become more political. At Harvard, students have exhibited many of the movement's broader trends.

Shifts in the national movement toward increased diversity, scientific knowledge and political activism are being reflected at Harvard, say leaders of campus environmental and political groups.

"At Harvard, we're going to be at the forefront of thinking critically about these issues," says David S. Grewal '98-'97, the co-chair of the Environmental Action Committee (EAC).

Not All "White Kids from the Suburbs"

Grewal, who is also vice president of the Harvard Wilderness Alliance, says that environmentalism has been making a concerted effort to expand its support base to include poor urban residents, who may be endangered by toxic sites in their neighborhoods.

"Early on, the [conservationist] agenda tended to be taken on by upper-middle class, white Americans," he says.

He says EAC, the largest environmental organization at Harvard, has members from many backgrounds and ethnicities.

"Are we all white kids from the suburbs? No," Grewal says. "We're foreshadowing the demographic changes that have to occur in the environmental movement nationally because we're the [next] generation."

In addition, the movement has attempted to invigorate younger supporters. Speaking at the Institute of Politics two weeks ago, Sierra Club President Adam M. Werbach encouraged members of Generation X to become involved in politics.

Werbach's own rise to the head post at the age of 24 is considered by many environmentalists to be a positive step for the movement. To help reach more youth, the Sierra Club hired Daniel J. Boulton to run a public education campaign in Massachusetts. He focuses on bringing younger participants into the movement.

"Traditionally the environmental community has been made up of older, independently wealthy, well-educated people," Boulton says. "The stereotype is that those people have time to worry about these things."

Boulton says the role of women and residents of urban and rural areas in environmentalism has increased.

"I definitely feel that people are trying to help people empower themselves," he says. "They're introducing people who wouldn't fit that traditional environmentalist community to the environmental movement and helping them realize that they can make a difference. Half the battle is just showing them that they have the power."

Boulton says the trend appeared in the late-1980s, when researchers began looking into the effects of environmental hazards on the female reproductive system and on residents of lower-income, urban areas.

A Renewal Through Learning

According to Boulton, in the late 1980s a feeling pervaded environmentalism that it had accomplished all its goals, even though there was more work to be done. As a result, the movement suffered a drop-off in action, he says.

To recover, environmentalists began to work on educating the public about the issues, Boulton says. Grewal agrees, saying the environmental movement has taken on a more academic focus over the past year than had characterized it before.

Subcommittees of the EAC last year ran an environmental education program for Cambridge elementary school students and put together lectures on environmental issues and an environmental career forum. Organizers say they plan to do the same this year.

In addition, a national trend towards an increasingly academic approach can be seen at Harvard through the formation of the Environmental Studies and Public Policy concentration in 1993, according to instructors in the concentration.

"[Students] don't come in fired [up] with the idea that they want to become activists," says Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry Peter T. Ashton. "They are a very serious group who really want to learn hard science in the field of environmental studies and be better informed."

Some graduates of the concentration say the thorough knowledge of environmental issues they acquired informs their activism.

"Because I have an awareness of the issues, I plan my decisions more carefully," says Victor Chiu '95, an account manager at Proctor and Gamble.

Chiu says the concentration gave him more perspective on the negative impact people have on the environment and what legal, political and scientific actions can be taken to lessen that impact.

Increasing Involvement in Politics

Grewal says the formation of the Direct Action subcommittee of EAC and the Harvard Wilderness Alliance last year typify the increased political approach of the environmental movement.

The groups originated in response to what Grewal dubs a "confrontational legislative stance in Congress toward the environment."

In the forum at the Institute of Politics, Werbach called the 104th Congress "the worst Congress on the environment in history."

But Jay M. Dickerson '98, president of the Harvard Republican Club, disagrees. He says the environment was not considered an issue until 35 years ago, and Congresses before that time did not even address it.

He adds that conservative politicians now are taking an interest in the environment and will continue to do so in the future.

"The 104th Congress was concerned with issues that are more in the minds of voters according to polls," Dickerson says.

He adds that he does not recall seeing the environment listed among the top five concerns of voters in a USA Today poll taken within the past month.